Review #1,465: 'Bumblebee' (2018)

By the time Transformers: The Last Knight rolled around in 2017, even the most hardcore fans of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise were getting tired of it all. The Last Knight, which was the fifth entry into the series, marked ten years of Bay's butt-numbing, explosion-heavy epics, which substituted the charm of the original 80's television show and toy line for faceless CGI constructs bashing each other to pieces, lame comedy, and an increasingly creepy attitude towards its female actors. Bay teased his departure from the franchise after three movies, but went on to make another two, and it's always been clear that the problem lay with the director's inability to engage the audience on an emotional level and refusal to deliver anything but headache-inducing action and softcore pornography. Eyebrows were raised when Paramount announced that one of its few memorable characters, Bumblebee, would receive his own spin-off. Yet they were significantly relaxed when they learned that Travis Knight, director of the acclaimed Kubo and the Two Strings, would helm the project, and not Bay.

Opening with a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on their home planet of Cybertron, it's immediately apparent that all this universe required was a fresh pair of eyes. Yes, this sequence isn't much more than a computer-generated smackdown between huge alien robots, but at least we can tell them apart. The Autobot leader Optimus Prime (voiced as ever by Peter Cullen) is leading a resistance against their oppressive foes, but seeing his side are losing badly, Prime sends scout B-127 (Dylan O'Brien) to Earth to set up base for their eventual rendezvous. Crashing down in 1987 California, the diminutive Autobot immediately encounters a unit of government soldiers, led by Agent Jack Burns (John Cena), on a routine training exercise, and is met with open hostility. Left grievously wounded after an attack by Decepticon Blitzwing (David Sobolov), B-127 transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle to lay low while awaiting rescue. Meanwhile, teenager and amateur mechanic Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), still grieving after the death of her father years ago, finds the rusty banger and decides to repair it as a pet project, hoping to impress junkyard owner Hank (Len Cariou) in the process. But when that final piece slips into place, Charlie finds way more in the piece of junk she names Bumblebee than she was expecting.

While Bay quickly forgot about the fans who loved the cartoons, toys and comic books growing up, Knight eagerly embraces them. Rewinding the timeline back to the 1980s, Knight mixes the inevitable action set-pieces with heartfelt drama, which stems not only from Charlie's relationship with the clumsy yet adorable yellow lunk, but also from her grief and anger that her mother has already moved on. As Bumblebee stumbles around the house trying his best not to break anything, you can't help but think of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. His prat-falls are made funnier because you have grown to love the character, and by evoking such an established 80's classic, Bumblebee engulfs you further in its pure nostalgia trip. Most importantly, there's a sense of fun and playfulness that was lost in the crotch-grabbing and flag-waving of Bay's cinematic haemorrhoids. Charlie and Bumblebee's bonding sessions are sweet and charming, and Steinfeld's performance is undoubtedly key to this. An endearing mix of awkward teenager and highly capable mechanic, Charlie wears vests and listens to The Smiths, and where Bay may have had her in hot pants leaning over a car, Charlie would much prefer to be underneath it. Her character helps paint an even clearer line between this semi-reboot and Bay's parasitic universe, and finally, I'm excited from the next Transformers film again.


Directed by: Travis Knight
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Dylan O'Brien, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, Peter Cullen
Country: USA/China

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,456: 'Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse' (2018)

When Sony announced a year or so ago that they were planning an animated take on the Spider-Man character, the question was asked by even the most hardcore of fans of whether yet another incarnation of everybody's favourite web-crawler can really be justified. After all, in the last 17 years alone, there's been Sam Raimi's popular trilogy starring Tobey Maguire, Marc Webb's ill-fated reboot in 2012, and most recently Tom Holland has donned the mask for the hero's introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse doesn't only introduce a new Spidey in the form of Miles Morales, but also includes two versions of Peter Parker, as well as four other versions of the world's most popular superhero. The fact that the film isn't a cluster-fuck is a miracle in itself. The fact that this is the best Spider-Man movie ever made is something else entirely.

Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) is an average teenager who, like the majority of kids his age, look up to and admire their friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man (Chris Pine). When he isn't in school, Miles divides his time between his over-protective police officer father (Brian Tyree Henry) and his cooler, scrappier Uncle Aaron (Mahershala Ali). The latter encourages his nephew's passion for graffiti art, and as Miles works on his new project in an abandoned subway station, he is bitten by a radioactive spider. He starts to stick to his classmates and hear a voice-over in his head (one of the film's many clever ways of bringing the comic-book page to life), but he is faced with his biggest dilemma when he accidentally stumbles upon Spider-Man battling the Kingpin (Liev Schreiber), who is working on a particle accelerator with the ability to access parallel dimensions. The fight ends in disaster, with the machine opening up wormholes long enough to bring a host of parallel Spider-People into their world.

With Kingpin threatening to reactivate the device and destroy the city, Miles carries the fate of his friends and family with him, but he is not alone. Helping the youngster master his new abilities are the overweight Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson), Spider-Woman aka Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), the black-and-white Spider-Man Noir (Nicolas Cage), wise-cracking cartoon Spider-Ham (John Mulaney), and SP//dr, a spider-controlled robot who shares a telepathic link with a young Japanese girl (Kimiko Glenn). Such a large collection of characters who each share similar yet personal origins could have been an overload, but directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman - working from a script by Rothman and Phil Lord - wisely keep the focus on Miles, with the rest serving as the new Spider-Man's mentor in their own unique way. Rather than steal the attention away from Miles, the gang actually get to the root of what makes Spider-Man such a compelling hero. They may all be plagued by tragedy and loss, but they will prevail in their battle against evil with fearless determination and good humour. Spider-Verse understands the character better than Sam Raimi, Marc Webb and Jon Watts ever could, as good as some of the previous films have been.

This new host of Spider-People also provide some of the film's funniest moments, whether it be overly-serious brooding of Cage's Noir or the madcap anime weirdness of SP//dr. It's ever funnier than Homecoming, a film which embraced the comedic side of the hero, and isn't afraid to take hilarious digs at the failures of its predecessors (we all remember the Spider-Man 3 emo-dance and face-jiggle). Most impressive of all is Spider-Verse's groundbreaking animation, which combines various styles and techniques to create a truly stimulating experience that could be paused at any moment and admired as a stunning piece of art. The sight of Spider-Man gliding through the city skyline back in 2002 will forever remain iconic, but Miles' first leap from the edge of a building will inspire a whole new generation of fans with its vertigo-inducing imagery and dazzling neon colours. Of course, this would all be decoration if the characters and story didn't captivate, but Spider-Verse achieves this in abundance. Miles is a great hero to root for: confidant enough to justify his new power set, yet bumbling enough to be relatable to any teenagers watching. Fantastic all-round, and fully deserving of its recent Oscar win for Best Animated Feature.


Directed by: Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
Voices: Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Brian Tyree Henry, Lily Tomlin, John Mulaney
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #29: 'True Grit' (2010)

It is curious as to why the Coen brothers, two of the greatest directors in cinema history, have taken so long to tackle a western. Their style and feel is ideally suited to the grit and the mystery of the West, most evident in No Country For Old Men (2007), Blood Simple (1984) and even The Big Lebowski (1998). How I rejoiced when I heard that not only were they to apply their trade to the western, but were to film a re-adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name. Of course, it has already been filmed back in 1969 in the not-bad John Wayne version, but the original film always lacked that toughness, and the most important aspect of the film, the character of Mattie Ross, was messed up in the form of the highly annoying and 22-year old Kim Darby. The Coen's new adaptation sticks close to the source novel.

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is a 14 year old girl whose father has just been murdered and robbed by the notorious Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin). Lacking faith in the law to bring her father's murderer to justice, she seeks out a lone lawman who has the 'true grit' to tackle such a job, and finds it in the form of trigger-happy U.S. Marshal Ruben 'Rooster' Cogburn (Jeff Bridges). Cogburn is a drunkard who always shoots first, asks questions later, but Mattie sees in him the ability to see her father avenged. After reluctantly agreeing, Cogburn sets out with Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon), who has something of a financial gain with the capture of Chaney, and the two are eventually joined by the determined Mattie.

This is all that someone who has seen the 1969 original will be familiar with, as the 2010 version is in some ways very similar to it. However, the Coen's have their fingerprints all over this, and features some trademark quirky humour and some magnificent cinematography. In my opinion, this is one of their best since Miller's Crossing (1990), which I consider their greatest film. Their are some fine moments, such as a strange meeting with a man clothed in bearskin (complete with bear head) who tries to sell Cogburn and Mattie the corpse that they cut down not long before, and a shooting contest between LaBouef and a bladdered Cogburn.

The biggest problem with the original, as I mentioned before, is the character of Mattie Ross and the actress who played her. She was frustrating and bratty, and the focus of the film seemed to linger on John Wayne's Cogburn. This is Mattie's story and the Coen's wisely make sure that she dominates the film. In Steinfeld, they have found an actress who will surely go on to great things. She is absolutely stunning in the lead, brimming with confidence, intelligence and Southern sass. She manages to hold her own with two Oscar winners, and if anything, blows them out of the water. It's simply one of the finest child performances in many, many a year. Not to say the support is slacking. Bridges, as well as Steinfeld, has received an Oscar nomination for his efforts, and makes for a much better Cogburn than Wayne. John Wayne famously received his only Oscar win for the original film, but it seems now looking back that it was more of a token gesture for a body of work than anything. Wayne had that lived-in look, but Bridges has the acting chops. Matt Damon seems to have been forgotten amongst the two main leads, but his performance is also great, bringing a welcome humour and slight sexual tension to the film.

A trademark for the Coen's is the cinematography, here again working with their lifetime companion Roger Deakins. Never has the West been captured with such astounding beauty and terrifying menace. The final third of the film, in which Mattie encounters Chaney and his gang, led by 'Lucky' Ned Pepper (Barry Pepper, no relation), eventually leads to a night-time dash through the night. The night is shot with a crisp and starry mystery and magic - it is simply beautiful. It is also a nodding homage to Charles Laughton's 1955 masterpiece The Night Of The Hunter. I hope that this cleans up at the Oscars, even though I know it won't.


Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie